Contents:

PURPOSE:

Penn State’s general purpose classrooms (GPCs) are a University resource with a priority mission to provide high quality environments and tools to enhance the educational experiences for students and instructors. When scheduling a general purpose classroom, the first priority is for credit instruction. Effort should be made to ensure that an appropriate match is made between the course’s pedagogical requirements and the features of the room. Other uses such as student activities and events, conferences and events, non-credit courses, are scheduled at a lower priority after all credit courses have been accommodated.

CLASSROOM SCHEDULING

The scheduling process occurs in the following order:

ROLL OVER

PRIORITY SCHEDULING OF GENERAL PURPOSE CLASSROOMS

GENERAL CREDIT

INSTRUCTIONAL SUPPORT

CO-CURRICULAR

NON-CREDIT AND EVENTS

1. ROLL OVER

At some campuses, the previous course offering is "rolled forward" to create the new course offering. The following criteria apply to the assignment of classroom(s) during the “roll over” process:

A. All previously assigned departmentally controlled classrooms are maintained.
B. All previously assigned general purpose classrooms will be maintained unless:

A number of GPCs at University Park have been designated by the Facilities Resources Committee (FRC) for "priority" scheduling by special agreement. The academic college or department with priority scheduling will have first opportunity to schedule. The specific dates when scheduling begins for priority GPCs are available on the Office of the University Registrar website at http://www.registrar.psu.edu/staff/activity_calendar/activity_semester_index.cfm .

College/Department Credit Courses: Department staff can schedule credit courses into their priority assigned GPCs provided the section limit is at least 70% of the room capacity.

Other Credit Courses: After the college/department that has scheduling priority has scheduled all of their credit courses in their assigned GPC priority classrooms, other colleges/departments will have the opportunity to schedule credit courses in these classrooms.

Departments may not block schedule a priority GPC at any time to prevent scheduling by other users. If this is an evident practice, the priority scheduling arrangement will be revoked. The Facilities Resources Committee can change priority assignments at any time for GPCs.

3. GENERAL CREDIT

General purpose classrooms are scheduled for credit courses according to the following priority:

standard sequence courses

non-standard sequence courses

Courses that follow a standard sequence will be scheduled first in order to maximize student access to courses and minimize time to degree.

While it is recognized that some courses, for pedagogical reasons, do not fit neatly into the standard scheduling periods, extensive use of non-standard scheduling patterns makes it difficult for students to create a viable class schedule which can impede students’ degree progress. It is therefore necessary to minimize the use of non-standard scheduling periods.

4. INSTRUCTIONAL SUPPORT

GPCs may be scheduled for instructional support activities such as evening exams, orientation and advising, or speakers directly related to a course after all credit courses have been scheduled.

5. CO-CURRICULAR

GPCs are available for student activities and special events after all credit courses have been scheduled. All student events and activities that are scheduled must be sponsored by a Recognized Student Organization with an officer report form on file. All Recognized Student Organization events held in GPCs must be scheduled by contacting the Student Affairs Office.

6. NON-CREDIT AND EVENTS

The University sponsors and supports many activities, conferences, meetings, special events, community outreach and service programs beyond those associated with credit-bearing programs. GPCs are available after credit-bearing programs have been accommodated on a room available basis in the following order:

weekend events

evening events

daytime events (scheduling begins one week after the start of the semester)

Scheduling General Purpose Classrooms: GPCs will not be available for non-credit-bearing activities until all credit courses are first scheduled. GPCs will not be held in reserve for possible conference use. At University Park, requests for exceptions to this policy should be addressed to Vice President and Dean for Undergraduate Education. At locations other than University Park, requests for exceptions should be addressed to the Vice President for Commonwealth Campuses.

Scheduling Other Spaces: Availability and use of rooms controlled by academic colleges or administrative units must be negotiated directly with the college or unit assigned the space requested.

FURTHER INFORMATION:

For questions, additional detail, or to request changes to this policy, please contact the Office of the University Registrar.